


Warlock almost loses a parent

by nighttime_stars



Series: Warlock saunters vaguely into their lives [5]
Category: Good Omens (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Crowley adopts Warlock, M/M, Warlock Tags Along
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-15
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-11-02 06:09:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 966
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20648096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nighttime_stars/pseuds/nighttime_stars
Summary: Crowley thinks he has lost his best friend and he doesn't know how to protect Warlock from the up-coming apocalypse while dealing with his grief.





	Warlock almost loses a parent

Crowley threw down the phone in front of the empty passenger seat; it shattered on the floor.

Aziraphale wasn’t answering.

“Is everything alright, Nanny?” Warlock asked from the backseat. He was fiddling with his fingers as his phone was still at home. In the rush to leave, he had completely forgotten about it.

“It’s fine, dear,” Crowley said, trying to sound confident but failing. _He has to be fine, _he thought desperately.

They sped through Central London, going well over 100mph. Gripping the wheel, Crowley pulled onto Aziraphale’s street and stopped suddenly when he was met with fire engines.

“Stay in the car,” he told Warlock before jumping out. Racing between hordes of vehicles and people, Crowley stopped short when he saw the bookshop. It was engulfed in flames that climbed high into the sky and their heat was as intense as the pits of hell.

_No no no no, _he thought as he ran inside the burning building. Whipping his head from side to side, he scanned the room but he couldn’t see the angel anywhere. _Where is he?_

Crowley was sobbing and screaming. He didn’t really know what he was saying; it didn’t matter. Aziraphale was dead.

Nothing mattered anymore.

He knelt in the middle of the room as the fire raged around him until his skin became singed from the heat. In front of him, he spotted a book that had somehow escaped the worst of the fire and he grabbed it without a second thought and stuffed it under his jacket. Stumbling outside, Crowley spotted the Bentley behind the firefighters (who, Crowley vaguely overheard but couldn’t bring himself to care about, were more focussed on saving the neighbouring buildings than the bookshop itself). He paused and stared at the car as his senses slowly returned to him.

_Warlock… shit._

As he walked over, he tried to fix his appearance. He slid into the front seat and grabbed the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles turned white as he tried to hold onto his emotions.

“Nanny,” Warlock said, leaning forward in his seat, “Where’s Brother Francis?”

Crowley’s grip tightened. How was he meant to answer that?

“Nanny,” Warlock repeated, his voice shaking slightly.

“Let’s get home,” Crowley managed to say. He didn’t know how to deal with this.

They drove back to the flat in silence.

*

Warlock had cried himself to sleep on Crowley’s bed while Crowley sat next to him and stroked his hair.

The smell of smoke still lingered on him and all he saw were the flames whenever he closed his eyes.

So he didn’t. He stared, unblinking, at the ceiling and tried to figure out what to do next.

Roughly a couple of hours passed like that with Crowley trying to hold back sobs so he didn’t wake up Warlock. The clock was ticking until the war began and the world was destroyed but, for the life of him, Crowley hadn’t the faintest idea what to do.

The book lay beside him; its edges were black though the title was still readable. He traced the letters and became lost in thoughts about Aziraphale, the fire, the world ending and, despite it being so long ago, his fall and the events that led up to it.

“I didn’t mean to…” Crowley whispered.

“Crowley,” a familiar voice said, yet it sounded like it was coming from far away. Crowley’s head snapped up and he saw the shimmering form of Aziraphale at the end of the bed.

“Aziraphale?” Crowley said. He felt Warlock stir beside him and sit up. The boy and demon stared at Aziraphale as if they couldn’t believe their own eyes. “Are you here?” Crowley somehow managed to ask.

Looking around as if wondering where Crowley was exactly, Aziraphale said, “I think so. Not certain though, never done this before. Is Warlock with you?”

Warlock was watching on in a daze, his eyes still bloodshot and heavy with sleep, so Crowley answered for him, “He’s here.”

“Good good. Did you… did you go to Alpha Centauri?”

“No,” Crowley said, his voice thick with emotion, “We were unable to leave yet.”

“Good,” Aziraphale repeated. “That’s fortunate.” His form was flickering more erratically and his voice was quieter when he continued and said, “Look, I need you to get a book from my bookshop.”

_He doesn’t know, _Crowley thought, _of course he doesn’t. _“Your bookshop isn’t there anymore,” he said and regretted it as soon as Aziraphale’s face fell. “It burnt down. I’m so sorry. What was the book?”

“Oh,” Aziraphale said. He took a moment to collect himself before saying, “It was one the young woman with the bicycle left behind. _The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of…”_

_“Angus Nutter,” _Crowley finished and picked up the book to proudly show Aziraphale. “It’s right here. I took it.”

“Oh good,” Aziraphale said with a sigh of relief, “It has all my notes in there. Who the boy is and where the end will start. I worked it out. You need to get to Tadfield airbase.”

“Where are you?” Crowley asked, “We can come and get you.”

“I’m not really anywhere at the moment. Been discorporated you see, so I have to find a receptive body. Just get to Tadfield airbase, I’ll meet you.”

With that, Aziraphale faded completely and Crowley was left wondering if that actually happened or whether it was some cruel trick by his sub-conscience.

“Nanny,” Warlock said, shaking his shoulder, “You heard him. We have to go.”

_Ah, it was real. _“Hurry up then, dear,” Crowley said as he stood up and grabbed the car keys and the book. They went back outside and into the car though, in their hurry, neither of them noticed how the sky now had a red tinge as they drove towards Tadfield. 

**Author's Note:**

> Damn, this was emotional and hard to write but I hope you enjoyed it. You know, I wrote the first scene and completely forgot about the book so I had to go back and add it in. 
> 
> Kudos and comments are greatly appreciated and my tumblr is @n1ghtt1me-stars if you want to check it out. It's mostly Good Omens stuff and I'm also open to requests.


End file.
